[Infowarrior] - Google's "Big Brother" project

[Richard Forno]

Precrime, anyone?   --rf


Google’s (GOOG) “Big Brother” Act: Screen Employee Behavior, And It  
Could Be The Company’s Next Blockbuster Product

Posted: May 19, 2009 at 5:09 am

http://247wallst.com/2009/05/19/googles-goog-big-brother-act-screen-employee-behavior/#more-34839

WinterGoogle (GOOG) wants to know which of its employees will quit.  
That is natural since a number of its senior staff have left for  
positions at other online companies. For the first time since the  
company started, an exodus of people is including the firm’s best and  
brightest.

Google thinks it has come up with a way to predict who will leave. If  
they system works, the search company may be able to approach people  
with offers to stay.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Applying a complex equation to  
a basic human-resource problem is pure Google.” While the new program  
may be a way to retain talented staff which saves Google the effort  
and cost of replacing people, it could also be a service that the  
company can market to thousands of companies all over the world.

Google has had trouble creating products beyond its core search  
business that make the company money. It efforts to sell PC  
applications to compete with Microsoft (MSFT) have been a failure  
based on the volume of sales. YouTube, the company’s huge video- 
sharing service loses several million a year. Google Maps, another  
large service, does not bring in any revenue at all.

Retaining the best employees is a problem that faces almost every  
enterprise in the world, be it government or business. If the Google  
screen for employees who may leave is a success, it will be a sales  
goldmine if the search company will license it to the market.